Costa Blanca
Elche gets six homes to use in case of social emergencies

The Local Government Board gave the go-ahead to buy six homes owned by SAREB so that they can be fixed up as part of a scheme to build more public housing that is paid for by the State Plan for Access to Housing 2022–2025, also known as the ADHA Plan.
Celia Lastra, Councillor for Social Action, said that in February 2024, the Local Government Board agreed to ask for a subsidy to buy these six homes owned by SAREB. This was because the council wanted to buy these properties to increase the number of public housing units and put them on a rental or transfer of use regime with a maximum rent or transfer price for use, especially for vulnerable groups.
With the help of the 342,500 euro grant, these 6 homes in various parts of the town were bought. “This purchase increases the number of public housing units in Elche and, most importantly, we will have more housing options under a social rental regime and/or transfer of use for emergency housing,” Lastra said. These homes are meant to help families who are housing insecure and can’t afford to rent at market rates because of their income.
The meeting also agreed to the free transfer of the “Hort de Malena” palm grove, which is in the middle of the city, next to the Tower on the road to the Mills, and surrounded by public gardens.
As stated by Inma Mora, the City Council’s goal is to restore and raise the value of the traditional homes and buildings in the “Hort de Malena” palm grove so that people can learn about and share the historical and cultural values that these buildings and homes represent, as well as the palm grove itself and its water systems. There will be no changes to the deal for 10 years.
It has also been cleared to build the Maestro José Toro social centre in Torrellano, which will be situated between the streets of Libertad, Alcudia, Astronautas, and Violeta. As part of this project, a new 1,900-square-meter space will be built to serve more than 7,000 people from the Torrellano, Santa Ana, Balsares, Saladas, and Jubalcoy areas.
The new cultural and social centre will have two floors. The first floor will have a big hall that can fit 466 people, 350 on the ground floor and 166 in the amphitheatre.
The Torrellano social centre project has been approved by the Local Government Board.
The reading room/library and the amphitheatre for the assembly hall will be on the first floor, along with the association offices and music school. The OMAC, cafeteria, and assembly hall will be on the ground floor.
The Civil Aviation report has now been given to the City Council. This is something that the municipal company Pimesa needs in order to be able to put out the bids for the building contract next week.
The Governing Board did agree to the Ministry of Transport and Sustainable Mobility’s request for direct aid for passenger transport. This will lower the prices of transport passes and multi-trip tickets for urban public transport services for the first half of 2025, from January 1 to June 30. They also agreed to make a deal with the service concessionaire to carry out the aid. With these direct helps, the price is cut in half, and the City Council pays for an extra 20%.
As one of the things that wasn’t on the list, the contract for the adaptation works at the central interchange of Doctor Caro and Alfredo Llopis streets has been extended for two more months, until April 11.
InvoLUCRA SL, the winning bidder, said, “They have proposed this extension because, once the urban bus shelter had been moved and the second section of Calle Alfredo Llopis had been torn down, services were found to be in use that were not reflected in the plans that were available for the preparation of the project.” This meant that the foundations and slabs of the two pergolas in that section had to be moved around to fit the available space. This caused the project to be delayed, and the stormwater network had to be moved to a new well that had to be built in the middle of the street.
The project has an investment of about 900,000 euros and is partly paid for by European Next Generation funds.
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Costa Blanca
Torrevieja fails to comply with its commitment to open new road at La Hoya for Easter

Eduardo Dolón (PP), the mayor of Torrevieja, announced at the beginning of April that the new Avenida José Carreras in the La Hoya residential area would be open to alleviate some of the traffic flow between the main access and exit road to the city, the CV-905, and the northern part of the town this Easter. However, the mayor’s announcement remains unfulfilled.
In his press conference last Thursday, April 17th , the Councillor for Traffic and Safety, Federico Alarcón, did not provide any explanation regarding the matter. Neither did the government team, even on Instagram, which is typically one of their primary communication channels.
This Easter Sunday, the road is still closed to traffic.
On April 3rd, Dolón responded to media enquiries by stating that municipal technicians and representatives of the developer had conducted numerous meetings to facilitate the opening of the four-lane avenue to traffic, with two lanes in each direction.
Given the significant tourist influx during Easter and the congested CV-95, the opening of this road was considered appropriate. By doing so, it would alleviate the traffic congestion.
The mayor clarified that the City Council must certify the first phase of the development being constructed, while a provisional acceptance of that section of road will be conducted.
Through the administrative process of reception, technicians verify that the works executed by a developer within an urban development plan that has been authorised by the municipality are in accordance with the project’s investment and on-site characteristics.
Víctor Costa, the Director General of Urban Planning at Torrevieja City Council, is currently responsible for validating receipts. It is crucial to consider the administrative process, as it is exceedingly challenging to hold the developer accountable in the event that the City Council identifies deficiencies subsequent to receipt.
The avenue is more comprehensive than those implemented in other developments in the area in terms of furniture, signage, safety, pedestrian conditions, and accessibility; it spans over one kilometre and the end of the new road, near the N332 (above) doesn’t look fit for traffic as there appears to be a steep incline making it impossible for the likes of buses to naviagate.
The connection between the CV-905 and the northeast area of the Torrevieja municipality has been closed for just over a year. This closure was due to the construction of the macro-urban development project, which will build 7,500 new residential homes in the sector starting in October 2023. The road, which is commonly referred to as the “swiggly road,” is used daily by hundreds of drivers to traverse the city centre.
This year, the Traffic Department has devised an alternative route that traverses numerous residential areas.
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Costa Blanca
Walkway from Aguamarina to La Caleta in Cabo Roig will reopen, again

According to the notification from the Provincial Expropriation Jury to the Orihuela City Council following its approval of the court’s appraisal report, the municipal coffers will incur a cost of 26,180 euros for the expropriation of the land to reopen the pedestrian crossing connecting Aguamarina with La Caleta in Cabo Roig, near the Bellavista development.
The City Council has now requested that the Treasury deposit the specified amount in the receptacle and proceed with the preoccupation of reopening the promenade this summer.
Unable to reach an agreement, the local government and the proprietors brought the process before the provincial jury. Almost 17 times the municipal technicians’ calculation (€69,113), the proprietors presented a valuation of €1.2 million for their 227-square-metre cliffside plots in January of last year.
Nevertheless, this proposition was a decrease from the 3 million euros that they had initially requested. The 52 residents of the residential complex have established a price of approximately 170,000 euros for the 142 square meters of land that is to be expropriated, which is a decrease from the previous price of 2 million euros. Conversely, Cabo Roig SA has requested 987,000 euros (previously 1 million euros) for 85 square meters of hotel use. The City Council’s initial assessment was 44,000 euros.
The jury ultimately found that the City Council had to pay just over €26,000. The 2024 budget allocated €600,000 for the expropriation of the land and the necessary works to reinstate an idyllic pedestrian promenade along the Orihuela coastline. This should be kept in mind. This promenade has been accessible to the public for many years, but it has been closed since December 2021. The City Council closed it in accordance with a court judgement, which necessitated a two-kilometre diversion for residents and numerous visitors to circumvent a section that was only 60 metres in length.
The residential development was authorised prior to the Coastal Law and the General Urban Development Plan (PGOU) of 1990, which mandated that the initial line be used for public purposes. Nevertheless, the City Council refrained from expropriating this section, which ensured the promenade’s continuity along the entire littoral. In 2013, the residents of the development constructed a wall to seal off the path that runs along the precipice and is adjacent to the gardens of their residences.
In 2013, the local government, at the request of the socialist Antonio Zapata, the councillor for urban planning at the time, initiated the process of restoring urban planning legality against the development. The process involved the installation of a barrier and a wall, which impeded traffic on the section.
In March 2015, City Hall employees employed sledgehammers to breach the gate and wall, thereby allowing the public access to the trail, with the support of the Supreme Court of Justice (TSJ). In 2016, the Elche Administrative Court ruled in favour of the residents of the development, annulling the rulings and directing City Hall to restore the cliff walkway at the Bellavista I residential complex, which was never considered public property.
Although the local government has been appealing its enforcement, the ruling became final when the City Council, which was then governed by the People’s Party (PP), did not appeal. The Provincial Coastal Service reported in May 2017 that a right of way impacted the land in Aguamarina. Consequently, the 52 residents of the residential complex were unable to close the passageway and were required to maintain it undisturbed.
The City Council filed an appeal against the October 4th, 2018, order, which ordered the fencing and restitution of the demolished wall. The TSJ overturned the appeal in a November 2020 ruling, stating that the wall was legally constructed by the residents prior to the implementation of the current Coastal Law, which is the foundation of the Provincial Coastal Service’s right of way discussion. The City Council assumed the report and was subsequently obligated to execute the 2016 ruling, which mandates the reconstruction of the demolished perimeter fence and annuls the 2013 agreement of the Governing Board and the 2015 demolition decree.
Therefore, in December 2021, it was once again closed to adhere to the ruling, which mandated that the City Council restore it to its original condition.
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Costa Blanca
Crackdown on illegal sales in Calpe

As part of a campaign against street vending that will be further bolstered in the spring and summer of 2025, the Guardia Civil and Local Police have deployed over 25 officers and a drone to the beaches of Levante and Poniente.
A police operation was conducted a few days ago to combat the illicit sale and counterfeiting of products by plainclothes and uniformed officers from the Guardia Civil and the Calpe Local Police. The prevention and deterrent campaign against illicit street vending will persist throughout the spring and summer of 2025, and this action is a component of it.
The Guardia Civil officers from the Main Post and the specialised unit PAFIF (Tax and Border Patrol), which monitors borders and controls taxation in our country, as well as the UTAI and USC CALP units of the Calpe Local Police, were involved in the police operation, which was aided by a drone from the UMAC (Calpe Local Police Aerial Means Unit). This police operation, which was conducted on the Levante and Poniente beaches of Calpe, involved over 25 officers from both forces.
In the course of the operation, 180 leather products, 212 T-shirts, 38 swimsuits, 12 caps and 291 pairs of trainers were confiscated, in addition to five vehicles that were purportedly used as warehouses. The prospective market value of all counterfeit items, which includes the value of the immobilised vehicles and the seized materials, is €15,000. The competent authorities were also informed of the sellers who were identified.
The Councillor for Citizen Security of the Calp City Council, Guillermo Sendra Guardiola, conveyed his satisfaction with the positive relationship and spirit of collaboration and cooperation between the Guardia Civil and the Local Police. “The councillor underscored that the fact that both forces are collaborating, despite their differences in resources and efforts, results in heightened safety for Calpe residents and visitors.”
The local government’s dedication to law enforcement is complemented by its efforts to increase community awareness of the risks and repercussions of supporting this unlawful trade, as the municipal ordinance prohibits both the street sale and purchase of these products.
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